The Opel-Magna Deal Will Be Finished This Week

Opel’s boss, Klaus Franz, has revealed that Magna International will soon take hold of 55 percent of the German brand. The are of course still a few points that need to be settled, but it’s pretty much said that the final approval will be this week.

“We are on the home stretch but there a few more points to clear up,” Franz said on Monday according to a report by Reuters. “I expect the contract to be signed in the course of this week.”

The German government has agreed to provide 4.5 billion euros to the whole operation, where the other countries with Opel facilities will soon have to announce their input.

The European Union are urging countries to make decisions on how much they would like to give Magna International in order to run the show succesfully.

“We are asking the question, we are waiting for facts and figures to come to our final approach, the time frame the sooner the better. We are running out of time,” Neelie Kroes, European Union antitrust chief, told the European Parliament.

“We also need to be clear that the financial sector was a special case. The substantial interventions in the financial sector should not be used as an excuse for massive state aid in other sectors,” Kroes said. “This is not because we care more about bankers than workers in other sectors. It is because the financial system is the lifeblood of our whole economic system,” she added.